Two senior nurses from West Norfolk have clocked off for the final time after dedicating their careers to caring for patients, supporting colleagues and inspiring future generations of the profession.
Chrissie Johnston, site matron at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Trust, retired at the start of July after 45 years of NHS service.
“Chrissie and Lyn have dedicated their working lives to caring for others and have made an immeasurable contribution”
Dawn Collins
Meanwhile, Lyn Jones, clinical nurse educator and specialist midwife at the trust, is also retiring at the end of this month after 48 years spent in the health service.
Having dreamed of becoming a nurse from a young age, Ms Johnston began her nurse training at Peterborough District Hospital through an on-the-job training programme.
Her training involved rotating between 16-week ward placements and periods of study at the school of nursing over three years, before qualifying as a registered general nurse in 1984.
After qualifying, she joined Queen Elizabeth Hospital as a staff nurse on Leverington Ward, before moving into medicine on Marham Ward in 1988.
Lyn Jones
She said one of the defining moments of her career came in 2007 when she became the trust’s lead nurse for Hospital at Night, playing a key role in establishing the service at the time.
It brought together medical teams and specialist nurses to provide safe, effective out-of-hours care, handle routine ward tasks and improve patient safety overnight.
As the service evolved in partnership with the clinical site team, Ms Johnston subsequently took on the role of site matron in 2015 and has continued in this role ever since, said the trust.
As she prepares to retire, she encouraged the next generation of nurses to never lose sight of the fundamentals and to always remember that patient care comes first.
Ms Johnston said: “Never forget the basics and always remember who you’re doing it for – the patient.
“Teamwork has kept me in this job and I couldn’t have done it without my colleagues and friends,” she added. “We’re one family and we always look out for each other.”
Ms Jones, meanwhile, began her NHS career in 1978, aged 18, as a cleaner at Napsbury Hospital before quickly becoming an auxiliary nurse. She later qualified as a mental health nurse there.
After becoming a mother herself, she explored a career move into a midwifery and undertook an advanced programme to convert to a registered general nurse in 1986 and then as a midwife in 1990.
She went on to dedicate more than three decades to caring for families at Peterborough City Hospital before retiring and then returning in 2015.
Lyn Jones circa 1980
During her time at Peterborough City Hospital, she was instrumental in supporting internationally educated midwives with their OSCE to gain Nursing and Midwifery Council registration.
In 2023, Ms Jones moved to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in order to continue this work as part of the trust’s practice development team.
Reflecting on her career, she said that one of the most rewarding aspects of her work has been supporting and developing the next generation of nurses and midwives.
She also spent eight years teaching at Anglia Ruskin University, helping to shape the future workforce. Supporting students to develop their skills and confidence has been a highlight, she said.
Sharing her advice for future nurses and midwives, Ms Jones said: “Never lose your passion and always remember why you started, regardless of how the landscape changes.”
Trust chief nurse Dawn Collins said: “Chrissie and Lyn have dedicated their working lives to caring for others and have made an immeasurable contribution to our hospital, our patients and their colleagues.
“Their professionalism, kindness and commitment have left a lasting mark on Queen Elizabeth Hospital and they will both be greatly missed,” she said. “I would like to thank them for their remarkable service.”
Chrissie Johnston circa 1984
